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One major frustration in the early summer of 1997 was the delay in passage of the
federal government's flood relief bill. While senators and representatives of the region
pleaded for faster action, and while the major political parties bickered over who was to
blame for the delay, tired flood victims became increasingly angry and frustrated.
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Political cartoon on flood aid frustrations. Courtesy of Copley News Service, June, 1997.
Sandbagged, June 5, 1997 Transcript Political wrangling has held up much-needed disaster relief for the Midwest and other parts of the nation. In particular, the bill has been held up by amendments, objectionable to President Clinton, who says Republicans are putting politics above people's lives. Kwame Holman reports. Editor's note: This report was prepared before Congress passed the disaster relief measure Thursday night - with the amendments President Clinton objects to. He has vowed to veto the measure. KWAME HOLMAN: Democrats from states recently hit by natural disasters returned from their 10- day Memorial Day recess this week all carrying the same message from their constituents. SENATOR TOM DASCHLE, Minority Leader: The bottom line from South Dakotans, from Minnesotans, from North Dakotans, is that we need help. This is urgent. Congress needs to respond. KWAME HOLMAN: Members of Congress had left Washington without finishing work on a five and a half billion dollar disaster relief bill. For North Dakota Democrat Earl Pomeroy, that was hard to explain to the people of Grand Forks. REPRESENTATIVE EARL POMEROY, (D), North Dakota: At a neighborhood meeting in one of the flood-ravaged parts of town on Saturday morning, again and again I heard from individuals whose homes had been destroyed, "we are in the state of absolute limbo. How could Congress recess without doing anything?" KWAME HOLMAN: The disaster aid makes up a lion's share of a so-called supplemental appropriations bill, money Congress must approve before it can be spent this fiscal year. Almost $2 billion for peacekeeping efforts in Bosnia and the Middle East is in there as well. But that money has been held up for weeks over a political fight, specifically two non-appropriation provisions added to the bill by Republicans. |
"Sandbagged," a Public Broadcasting Service story on flood aid
delay,
from PBS web page, June 5, 1997. President Bill Clinton did subsequently veto the
relief measure after its passage, which led to the argument in the next item.
CNN Crossfire,
June 10, 1997 CONRAD: There is not money for highways. There is not money for the school districts that have been affected. BUCHANAN: There would be. CONRAD: There is not money for the ranchers that have lost hundreds of thousands of head of cattle. BUCHANAN: All right, let me talk to you.... CONRAD: None of those things are happening and a local official told me, by the way, the mayor, that if they say the pipeline is flowing, there must be concrete in the pipeline because the money is not getting through. BUCHANAN: Now let me talk for a second. If your president had signed that bill, money would be flowing to the ranchers, money would be flowing for the highways, money would be flowing for the farmers and the only amendment he would have had to accept was look, we won't shut down the government in the fall and put all these people through hell. Why is your president being a selfish individual? Why doesn't he play the big man and say sure, I'll take that amendment, let's get that money up there to North Dakota? CONRAD: The president didn't put unrelated matters in a disaster bill. I've been in the..... BUCHANAN: Why didn't the president take the unrelated matters and say I'm a bigger man and do it? PRESS: Let him answer, Pat. Let him answer. CONRAD: Well, Pat, if you ask a question, give me the chance to answer. BUCHANAN: Sure. CONRAD: The president did not put unrelated matters in a disaster bill. The fact is this is holding up disaster relief. Now, the way we can resolve this is to have those who have strong feelings about the proposal of Senator McCain and other proposals, to offer them on other pieces of legislation. We could get an agreement. No filibuster. Straight up or down vote. And give the people who have been hit by disasters a chance to get their lives back in order. BUCHANAN: Did you recommend to the president that he veto a bill which would have sent that aid to North Dakota? CONRAD: No, I didn't recommend that he veto a bill, but I certainly understand his vetoing a bill that has, you know, in typically Congressional fashion, the old Christmas tree approach. Here comes a bill that everybody knows is going to become law, so let's everybody attach their own ornament. Let's everybody attach the thing that they care the most about to it, because they know that ultimately this is going to become law. |
On the "Crossfire" syndicated television program, North Dakota
Senator Kent Conrad and show's host Patrick Buchanan debate who is to blame for the delay
in flood aid.
Portion of Crossfire transcript of June 10, 1997 broadcast.
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A statement by North Dakota Senator Kent Conrad on the delay in flood aid from the Congressional Record, June 9, 1997. Another relief bill was passed and signed into law soon after.
